respect of marriage, however, the wife is expected to supplement the fortune of her husband and to contribute to the finances of the household. When women of the upper classes wish to embark in business, certain careers, other than that of medicine, are open to them. They may cultivate the silkworm, start an apiary, weave straw shoes, conduct a wine-shop, or assume the position of a teacher. They may undertake neither the manufacture of lace and cloth, nor the sale of fruit and vegetables. A descent in the social scale increases the number and variety of the callings which are open to women. Those of the middle class may engage in all the occupations of the upper classes, with the exception of medicine and teaching. They may become concubines, act as cooks, go out as wet nurses, or fill posts in the palace. They may keep any description of shop, tavern, or hotel ; they possess certain fishing privileges, which allow them to take clams, cuttle-fish, and bêches de mer. They may make every kind of boot and shoe. They may knit fishing-nets, and fashion tobacco-pouches.
If some little respect be accorded to women of the middle classes, those of a lower status are held in contempt. Of the occupations open to women of the middle classes, there are two in which women of humble origin cannot engage. They are ineligible for any position in the palace : they may not manufacture tobacco-pouches. They may become sorceresses, jugglers, tumblers, contortionists, dancing-girls and courtesans. There is this wide distinction between the members of the two oldest professions which the world has ever known : the dancing-girl usually closes her career by becoming the concubine of some wealthy noble ; the courtesan does not close her career at all.
